1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly, to an electrical connector of a reduced front-to-back length.
2. Description of Related Art
The Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a standardized interface for data communications between electronic devices. Electronic devices which incorporate the USB may communicate with each other utilizing standard connectors and interface protocols.
The USB as originally designed is based on a master-slave protocol wherein a host system (master) may connect to one or more peripheral devices (slaves) in a tiered star topology. The host system may control several peripheral devices through a series of hubs. The host system determines how connections and communications are made to the peripheral devices, and therefore the intelligence resides primarily in the host system.
There have been several USB standard specifications, such as USB 1.0, USB 2.0 and USB 3.0. A stacked USB 3.0 connector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,651,371, which is issued on Jan. 26, 2010 to Yi et al. The stacked USB 3.0 connector has a length longer than the length of a stacked USB 2.0 or USB 1.0 connector. Additionally, stacked USB connectors are often used to be combined with modular jacks, RJ45 for example, as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,089, issued on Dec. 19, 2000 to Costello et al. Thus, a stacked USB 3.0 connector could not be readily used in for example existing stacked USB 2.0 connector and modular jack combo due to its longer length.